Former South Carolina lawmaker avoids prison for misconduct

By RUSS BYNUMFebruary 12, 2018

BEAUFORT, S.C. (AP) — A former South Carolina lawmaker will serve two years on probation instead of prison time after he pleaded guilty to misconduct in office.

A judge in Beaufort on Monday also ordered former Rep. Rick Quinn Jr. of Lexington to pay a $1,000 fine and perform 500 hours of community service. He’s the third Republican lawmaker convicted in a Statehouse corruption investigation.

Quinn pleaded guilty in December to a single misdemeanor charge punishable by up to a year in prison. The former House majority leader also resigned from office.

Prosecutors accused Quinn of taking $4 million in unreported money from lobbyists. Quinn insisted his only crime was failing to report a lobbyist’s payments to his father’s political consulting firm.